Ancient Greece Lesson Plans

Lesson Six: Government

I. General Information:
Grade Level: 6th Grade
Discipline: Social Studies/History
Unit Topic: Ancient Greece
Time Frame: Three 60 minute class periods
Text: The Ancient Greeks by Allison Lassieur
Other Materials:
The Ancient Greeks by Allison Lassieur
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/ca/books/bkf3/imaps/A
C_12_389_citystates/AC_12_389_citystates.html
Computer and projectors
Class set of laptops
Large stack of post-its (four different colors)
Chart paper
II. Standards/Indicators:
SS.5.0.2: Analyze the emergence and enduring influence of
Aegean Civilizations.
RH.6-8.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis
of primary and secondary sources.
WHST.6-8.1: Write arguments focused on discipline-specific
content.
WHST.6-8.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development, organization, and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience.
WHST.6-8.5: With some guidance and support from peers
and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by
planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new
approach.

III. Lesson Objectives:

The students will be able to define the term city-state.
The students will be able to provide two examples of Greek
city-states.
The students will be able to describe the style of Ancient
Greek governments by writing an argument piece defending
one of the four government styles.
IV. Procedures:
Introduction:
The teacher will project the interactive city-state
website on the projector while the students are on laptops.
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/ca/books/bkf3/imaps/A
C_12_389_citystates/AC_12_389_citystates.html
The teacher will explain that a city-state is a city that
contols the land around it. Point out that there were
hundreds of city-states but the ones on the website were the
largest ones. Allow students to explore the site for five
minutes.
Teaching/Activities:
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The teacher will refer to the poster chart that

the students filled in with their artifacts in the
first lesson. She will explain that today they will
be studying one of the artifacts and that todays
focus will be on government.
As a group, the teacher and students will read
page 16 on the city-states.
The teacher will focus on the key word -polis.
The teacher will explain how -polis means city
and provide examples of how its used today.
Example: Annapolis.
The teacher will also discuss the terms
oligarchies and tyrannies with the students.

5)
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The teacher will add these words to the Ancient

Greece bulletin board.
The teacher will pass out post-its to the
students. In partners, the students will read the
section Early Greek Rulers. They will record
facts about the monarchy on the post-its.
The teacher will focus on the key vocabulary
word basileus and add it to the bulletin board.
After reading, the students will come back
together and share the facts while the teacher
clarifies any misconceptions. The teacher
records the facts on chart paper.
The students then pair off again with a new
partner and read the section on oligarchs. With
different colored post-its they write facts and
interesting information on the post-its.
The students then reconvene and share the new
information they discovered while the teacher
records the facts on the chart paper.
Together, they have a brief discussion on how
the two forms of government are different.
The students then pair off with their third
partner and read the section on tyrants. The
students record any facts and interesting
information on the third set of post-its.
The students again reconvene and share the
information they found with each other while
the teacher records the information on a third
piece of chart paper.
Together, they briefy discuss how the three
forms of government are different from each
other.
The students then pair off with their last partner
to read the last section on democracy. The
students record their facts and interesting
information on the fourth set of post-its.
They reconvene as a group to share their
findings while the teacher records them on the
fourth piece of chart paper.

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Together, they discuss the differences between

the four different types of governments. The
teacher will encourage the students to select
the style of government they feel is the best
while defending their reasons.
The teacher then explains that they will be
writing an argument piece defending their
choice of government. The teacher will model
how to write an argument piece using a
separate example (dictatorship, communism,
fascismsomething that the students havent
studied.
After teaching them how to write an argument
piece, the students will then write their own
argument piece on which Ancient Greek form of
government they felt was best.

Closure:
The students will complete an exit ticket that
demonstrates their knowledge of city-states.

VI. Evaluation/Assessment:
Assessment of Objectives
The formative assessment will be based on the teacher
observation checklist that was kept during partner
discussions. The teacher will also assess the students on
their argument piece and on the exit ticket.

Exit ticket:
For this exit ticket you must define the term city-state,
give two example of Ancient Greek city-states, and name
one form on government that existed in Ancient Greece.